


Becoming

by taeminki



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 15:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14240046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeminki/pseuds/taeminki
Summary: be·com·ing (bəˈkəmiNG)adj. | (especially of clothing) flattering a person's appearance.n. | the process of coming to be something or of passing into a state.





	Becoming

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUVyZvgHXCM) performance of GO

**Do You Want to be a Star?**

The bold title of the flyer would have turned Donghyuck away if not for the various people surrounding each and every one on throughout campus. Donghyuck, like anyone else would, found himself curious at the attention the flyer got. He was lucky enough to find one laying at the corner of the hall, likely knocked over by dozens of students brushing their shoulders past it in the rush to get to class-- and the wind must have caught it, and ripped the stickiness of its tape from the wall, leaving it swept to the ground. Donghyuck picked it up, brushed a bit of dirt from it, and read.

_Showcase your talent by joining the Seoul's Visuals Talent Show! 1-10 people per act! Contestants must be students on Seoul's Visuals, and can only enter in one act. The show will be judged by representatives from SM Entertainment, and the winner(s) will be accepted into their trainee program after graduation!_

_Audition tapes are to be submitted to the official school email, visualseoul@kor.net as early as April 9th and as late as May 1st. Rehearsals will be every Friday and Saturday at 2:00PM after callbacks are posted on May 7th. Five acts will be chosen. Lyrics, arrangement, and choreography must be original. The official talent show date is Saturday, June 9th, and the winner will be announced immediately following the event. Tickets will be on sale starting May 14th, up to June 1st. Prices to be announced_.

Donghyuck was immediately interested in the talent show, but finding out that SM Entertainment would be there had his jaw dropping. He could hardly believe it-- _SM Entertainment?_  They were one of the biggest entertainment companies in all of South Korea! Donghyuck's mind was already racing with _What concept should I go for in my song?_  but he thought about SM Entertainment, and what it really meant to be an _idol_. Being an idol was, unfortunately, more than talent-- it was personality and visuals-- it was a big group with copious amounts of talent, and if Donghyuck wrote a song by himself, got up there, and sang it-- well, he was only in his third year, and he wasn't confident battling fourth years and fifth years-- sixth years, even.

It took sleeping on his thoughts for an idea to awaken in Donghyuck. It came to him in the morning, when he himself was barely awake-- when his vision was fuzzy because he didn't have his glasses on, and he was brushing his teeth before his shower. His toothbrush clattered out of his mouth at the sudden light bulb that came over his head, casting his dark bathroom in a soft yellow glow. He bent forward to gulp down some water after he gasped and accidentally inhaled some toothpaste. He scrambled to get ready, to get to school early-- skipping breakfast and tripping over his own feet as he made for the door. He had an _incredible_  idea.

 

 

"No."

"Why not?"

" _No_. Why do you want to work with me, anyway?" Zhong Chenle was looking at Donghyuck skeptically, like he thought Donghyuck was was up to something. Donghyuck couldn't say he blamed him for having his suspicions. He, too, would be skeptical if Chenle walked up to him and asked _Are you doing the talent show? Yes? Great, let's do it together_. However, seeing the expression on Chenle's face pissed him off--because he didn't like Chenle. He refrained from being rude, though, because Donghyuck wanted his help, and he'd learned enough so far to know that being nice got people farther than being demanding.

"Because you're my biggest competition," Donghyuck explained. Pride flashed over Chenle's face in a smirk, and Donghyuck spoke through his teeth for a moment, " _And I'm sure_  I'm one of yours. If we work against each other, you're not guaranteed to win."

"Neither are you," Chenle scoffed, his smirk falling into an expression of offense. Calmly, Donghyuck agreed, "No, I'm not. But if we work together, we're so much stronger. Think about this: the competition is going to be tight. We could be rejected before we even get to the talent show. But if we work _together_ , and get the other really talented people in the school together, we'll probably be indestructible."

"Except for the fact that I don't like you and I don't think I _want_  to work with you." Chenle said. Donghyuck nodded. He'd thought about that (admittedly, just seconds before he caught Chenle to explain his proposition)-- "I have a plan for that."

"You do?" Chenle doubted him again-- entirely. He said it in a mocking way, like any answer of Donghyuck's wasn't going to be enough to convince Chenle. Donghyuck grit his teeth for a moment, and nodded, "Listen. Class is going to start soon, but if you meet me in the courtyard at lunch-- um... right by that willow tree--" and Donghyuck pointed it out after deciding it was a good location, finger gesturing to the window a few feet away-- "I'll tell you how we'll win that talent show together."

"Just the two of us?" Chenle asked. Donghyuck thought his eyebrow might be permanently quirked.

"No."

Chenle pursed his lips, rolled his eyes to the sky, and considered, "Okay. Fine."

 

 

Donghyuck had similar conversations throughout the day. Only one of them went well the whole way through, and that was a conversation with Na Jaemin. Donghyuck hadn't originally planned to talk to him-- not at first, anyway. He had five people in mind when he scrambled to get to school early in the morning, but Jaemin came to mind when he saw Chenle, and Donghyuck knew he had to ask him.

Donghyuck was pleased when all six of the boys he asked to meet him showed up. Donghyuck was the last of them to appear, having been pulled over by his teacher to talk about the talent show. She was a sweet woman, quite invested in his well-being. (She didn't have any kids of her own, and she practically adopted Donghyuck after they'd spent so much time talking about Donghyuck's plans after graduation.) Donghyuck was scared his potential partners would leave, but he found them all standing around. None of them were talking to each other-- except for Jaemin who, as Donghyuck expected, was speaking comfortably to one of them-- Minhyung.

"You all showed up," Donghyuck said happily. No one else seemed happy. Minhyung's smile died the moment he looked at Donghyuck.

"I can tell you right now," Jisung said, pushing himself off of the tree's trunk, "-- _this_ \--" and he gestured between himself and Jeno, "--is not going to work."

"If you want to get into that company so bad, it _will_  work." Donghyuck said. He pointed at Jeno, "He is your _biggest_  competition. If you work against him, you have a really good chance of losing. If you work _with_  him, you're even more likely to win than before."

Donghyuck turned to the rest of the group, "Why do you think I asked all of you? I've kept all of you bookmarked as my biggest competition in this school. I don't like any of you-- except for you, Jaemin-- but we're all talented and we _can_  and _will_  win that talent show if we all work together. You all told me you want to do it--why don't we do it together?"

There was some silence left hanging in the air, as the seven boys looked between each other. It was Minhyung that spoke up, "I mean, I'm not prepared to be really friendly with anyone, either, but if it means getting accepted as a trainee to one of the biggest entertainment companies here-- I'll bite my tongue."

"I will, too." Jeno volunteered, and Renjun followed. Jaemin was next, but that was expected because no one really disliked Jaemin. Jisung and Chenle were the last to join the agreement-- in that order. They agreed to meet at the same spot to discuss song plans (and Donghyuck pointed out that Minhyung was a great lyricist, which they all mentioned they already knew) and choreography plans. Jaemin mentioned he wasn't really a dancer. Jeno pat his shoulder and said, "I'll help you," and Jisung glared at him because it seemed like he had been about to say the same.

"We'll meet here everyday, okay? Same time-- lunch," and they all agreed.

 

 

The seven of them actually worked pretty well together. Donghyuck almost thought he hadn't needed to recruit Jaemin as a mediator. Jaemin, however, was much more talented than Donghyuck had previously thought. He was a triple threat; he was a decent dancer, had strong vocals, and rapped well when Minhyung asked him if he could. Jeno was also a triple threat-- the better of the two, if Donghyuck had to judge. He was an _incredible_  dancer with strong vocals and a decent flow as well. On top of that, both of them were good-looking; Jeno, especially, was popular with the girls at their school. Donghyuck was glad he'd recruited them.

Donghyuck found, within the weeks that followed, that they were all more talented than he thought. Minhyung was not only a talented rapper and lyricist, he was also a decent dancer and could sing if he needed to. He had leader qualities; he was often the one to settle little fights that often broke out between the boys-- if he wasn't involved, and if Jaemin hadn't gotten to it first. If Donghyuck wasn't leading the conversation, Minhyung was; and if neither of them did it, Jeno did. Between the three of them, they got the various ideas organized and compromised-- and while it took some harsh words and anger to get there, they did it.

Sometimes, Donghyuck found himself thinking of all seven of them as a group--but he didn't think he could handle the constant headache of bickering and rivalry for more than these couple months-- especially if they would have to live together. (To think that they couldn't get through an hour at lunch without fighting made Donghyuck think they physically would not survive a single day together, much less a chunk-- ten or fifteen _years_ \-- of their career.)

It only took a couple of days to get the song written once the seven of them sat down and _did it_. Renjun and Jisung had put their heads together to create some music-- though Donghyuck heard, from mumbled story-telling, that they constantly fought while doing it. Chenle helped, sometimes, and made the fights worse. Minhyung overheard the process and would steer them different directions in the making, saying _oh, but we have this lyric there-- maybe we should change a few of these beats?_ , and it was painful and slow and it took two more weeks. Donghyuck was starting to stress out a little. It was only April 12th, but that was three days after the school's e-mail was open to audition clips and Donghyuck really wanted to submit something; but in the midst of creating the main act, the group hadn't thought about the audition.

"The audition should be a cover of someone _else's_  song-- so we don't end up performing the same thing in the talent show." Jeno came back with the news in the middle of lunch one day, after going to the office with the flyer and a handful of questions about the audition-- just to clear things up. Everyone looked at him with blank faces. Donghyuck leaned forward and buried his face in the grass, " _Oh my God_."

"It should be something from SM." Chenle said. Donghyuck muttered, " _Duh_ ," but Chenle ignored him, throwing out suggestions instead, "Exo? SHINee?"

"What could we do from SHINee?" Renjun asked. Jeno started, "We should do Exo. Wolf?"

"You're crazy-- no one liked Wolf. What about Growl?"

"Growl's not a bad idea." Minhyung said, nudging Jisung. Jisung moved away from him. Donghyuck finally sat up again, and they all laughed at the green spot in the center of his forehead. He ignored them, "We could do Growl. But--does it have to be from SM? This is our school picking, not SM."

"But it's an _SM_  competition, why _wouldn't_  we choose SM?" Chenle asked, frowning. Donghyuck rolled his eyes, "Listen, hot pants, I'm just trying not to limit us here."

"Let's do Growl! Growl is a good song and I think we probably all know at least a little bit of the dance." Jaemin said, and they stopped arguing for a few minutes. They spent the next week practicing and rehearsing growl. Two days before they planned to film the audition, Renjun suggested they coordinate outfits and make them nice-- "Since we should really _look_  like we're trying to impress."

"Who has good fashion sense?" Donghyuck asked. Everyone stuck a hand in the air. Donghyuck didn't trust a single one of them-- looking at Mark's army green sweatpants and Chenle's baby pink sweater. He looked at Jeno and Renjun, and said, "You two can coordinate them. I don't trust anyone else."

"Donghyuck, you are _such_  a--" Chenle started, but Jaemin cut in, "Good idea! I mean, Jeno and Renjun always dress nice."

" _I_ dress nice," Chenle grumbled. Jaemin pet his hair gently, trying to calm him. Donghyuck rolled his eyes at Chenle, "You are _such_  a baby," while Chenle said "If you roll your eyes enough, Donghyuck, they might roll out of your head," and Minhyung gently settled their dispute.

On top of practicing for the audition tape, Jeno and Jisung began their choreography for their song-- simply titled _GO_  after a hell of a lot of arguing. Minhyung had suggested the name, but Chenle grumbled on about how it was in English and it shouldn't be because they were trying to impress a _Korean_  company; and Renjun went on about how it was fine because a lot of the songs from SM had English titled to appeal to international fans, and that it was actually a good idea, and Minhyung mentioned that they said _Go_ a lot in the song, and Chenle said that's exactly why they _shouldn't_ name it _GO_  and Donghyuck called him an idiot because what do you name a song if it's not titled after the chorus? Jeno suggested naming it _We're Young_ , and Jisung said no, that's stupid because if we do end up as an actual group ("I hope the hell that never happens," said Chenle; and Jisung glared, and continued), we're probably going to have a song titled _We're Young_  or something like that because we _are_  young. And Jeno got frustrated and-- "Okay, what do _you_  think we should name it, then?" and Jisung gestured back to Minhyung and said _GO_  and Donghyuck threw his hands into the air and said, "Let's just call it Go! It's called Go-- it's not that big of a deal!" and Jaemin repeated him with kinder words and that was (finally) that.

Stress made them fight even more. Dozens of fights broke out when they were recording _GO_ , and dozens more broke out when they were figuring out positions for _Growl_. Chenle whined, "I don't want to be in the back all the time!" and Donghyuck said, "You should probably get better at dancing, then!" and Chenle argued "I'm better at dancing than you!" and Donghyuck said, "Sure, but singing? No-- _I'm_  singing and _you_  need to be behind me," and Chenle got real close and said "You're _not_  better at singing than I am-- don't forget that _you_  asked _me_  to work with you so _you_  could make it--" and Minhyung got between the two of them, "Hey. Hey! Stop!" and it took Renjun dragging Chenle and Minhyung staying in front of Donghyuck for the two of them to break.

"Everyone go get some water." Minhyung said, shooing everyone down the hall to breathe. Donghyuck and Chenle went opposite ways. Renjun and Jisung followed Chenle; Jeno and Jaemin followed Donghyuck. Donghyuck sat at the end of the hall with a water bottle and his arms crossed while Jeno and Jaemin talked. Chenle, Jisung, and Renjun disappeared entirely-- perhaps going all the way outside for time being.

When they went back into the room, Minhyung spoke to them gently, "Guys, we're coming to a point where we can't even put our differences aside to work."

Silence. For once, no one argued. Minhyung mentioned, "I'm just as guilty of it as the rest of you, but-- we need to learn to get along or we're not going to perform well in the competition. If we can't even get through the _audition_ , I don't know what's going to happen."

More silence. Jaemin spoke up, "I think we should stop practicing today and try to get closer to each other."

Even _more_  silence. Jaemin suggested, "What if we go around and say something nice about each other?"

"Jaemin," Chenle said, turning to Jaemin and placing a hand on his shoulder, "You would make a really nice Kindergarten teacher."

"Thanks. I feel like I'm practicing with _real_  Kindergartners right now!" Jaemin said, brushing Chenle's hand off his shoulder and placing his own on Chenle's shoulder instead, "Let's start with you, Chenle. Say something nice about Jisung."

Jisung was sitting right next to Chenle-- on the side opposite to Jaemin. Chenle looked at Jisung, and considered for a moment. He actually smiled when he thought of something, "Jisung hates when I say it, but he's cute."

" _When?_ " Minhyung asked, surprised. Jisung nodded, his lips in a line, while Chenle mentioned, "Jisung and I are close," and Jisung shook his head.

"Jisung? What do you like about Minhyung?" Jaemin asked, leading them down the line. It was a little bit of a struggle to find things they liked, but only because the dislikes were in the front of their minds. Everything they said was genuine, and none of the compliments were cop-outs. There did exist a wall of _I'm not being serious_  in front of the genuineness, but anyone could tell that Jeno telling Donghyuck he was a really talented singer and Jisung telling Minhyung he was a 'genius writer' were not jokes.

"I feel like I'm in group therapy," Donghyuck muttered when Jaemin suggested they all go around the circle and say something they _disliked_  about each other-- nicely!-- to see if they could get to the root of the problem. Jaemin told him, "By the end of the talent show, we're going to _need_  group therapy-- we might as well start now."

"You start," Donghyuck said, gesturing to Jaemin. Jaemin nodded. He looked at Chenle and said, "I don't like that you disagree with everyone all the time," and Chenle shrugged the comment off. He looked like he was about to say something, but he stopped himself. (Jaemin's comment suddenly made him _aware_.) He turned to Jisung, and couldn't think of anything.

"I like Jisung, actually. I haven't argued with him much," and Jisung rolled his eyes, and turned to Minhyung. He didn't like how Minhyung acted condescending, sometimes; and Minhyung didn't like how much Jeno showed off; and Jeno hated how big Donghyuck's mouth was; and Donghyuck hated that Renjun was stupid but then everyone got mad at him for putting it like that so Donghyuck said fine, fine, okay, Renjun, I hate that you don't have great suggestions; and Renjun asked if he could just say something about Donghyuck because Jaemin was an angel and Jaemin said no and Renjun said I don't like that you're acting like a therapist, Jaemin.

"These are all really petty things." Jaemin said, and he started to laugh a little, "I think we're jealous of each other."

"Any one of us could have told you that." Donghyuck said. He leaned back on his hands. Jeno shoved him, "Be nice," and Donghyuck defended himself-- "Leave me alone! I'm sassy by nature," and Jaemin asked, "Even to people you like?" and Donghyuck said "Yeah?" and Jaemin nodded, "Now we understand you a little better."

"So Donghyuck is a bitch by nature." Chenle said. Jaemin whacked him on the back of the head-- same time as Jisung. Chenle's mouth fell open, a shocked "Ouch!" coming from his mouth-- and everyone laughed. He looked between Jisung and Jaemin and pouted, "I feel so betrayed," and everyone kept giggling at the way his face looked-- the absolute shock in his expression and the betrayal in his eyes.

"Donghyuck is _sassy_  by nature," Chenle corrected, rubbing the back of his head as he pouted. In the midst of his laughs, Donghyuck said "You're cute, Chenle," and they all looked at him. Chenle smirked, "I knew you liked me," and Donghyuck rolled his eyes, "You still aren't a better singer than me."

"Good thing I don't have to be, since we're working together."

 _Working together_. Yeah, Donghyuck thought-- crooked smile on his teeth. We can do that.

 

 

  
\- + -

 

 

  
Donghyuck knew they would _at least_ get _to_  the talent show. Even if Minhyung hadn't forced them all to sit and Jaemin hadn't created a therapeutic hour out of their practice, Donghyuck knew the seven of them would have made it to the talent show. They were good-- _really_  good.

Donghyuck was still overwhelmed with joy when he saw their group name, _Dream Team_ \-- title courtesy of Jaemin-- posted on the board outside of campus, along with four other names that Donghyuck didn't even look at. He sprinted to the willow tree to see if anyone was waiting for him. Jeno was, and Donghyuck practically ran right into him-- arms gripping for a hug. He asked, "Did you see? Did you see?" while he stood in Jeno's arms, and Jeno laughed, and pulled from the hug to look at him-- "Yes! I was waiting here for you-- or-- someone--!"

"I can't believe it! I mean, I can believe it, but--" Donghyuck couldn't even speak. Jisung joined them, and they both attacked him with hugs. Jisung yelled in shock-- "Whoa!" but he understood the hugs and the excitement. All seven of them celebrated under the tree when they all gathered. Chenle was the only one who didn't know about the news before he came to the tree. His eye blew wide and his mouth fell open, lollipop clattering to the ground. He said, "Really?" when Donghyuck asked "Did you see? We made it! We're going to the talent show!" and Renjun rubbed his head as he was laughing, and Chenle hugged Donghyuck when everyone confirmed that yes, they'd made it and yes, they were going to the talent show.

"We have to practice even harder now. We _have_  to win." Chenle said. Donghyuck agreed. Renjun whined about his legs hurting so much already and Jeno thought he was going to shred his throat with how much he was singing, but it was all in fun. They didn't mean it, and they all agreed to work harder-- to work their hardest. They _had_  to work their hardest. They _had_  to do their best. They _had_  to make it.

 

 

Donghyuck looked at the stage. His heart was racing. They were on third.

It was officially the day; it was officially June 9th. Donghyuck's parents were in the audience-- same as Jaemin's, and Jisung's. Jeno's dad was there. Renjun and Minhyung revealed their vulnerable sides when Renjun said his parents were in China and Minhyung's were in Canada, and they were in Korea on their own. Chenle had a particularly vulnerable moment when he said his parents were in China, too, but they wouldn't support him even if they _were_  there.

\-- But all these emotional and vulnerable moments happened weeks ago, when ticket sales started. Tears had been shed and these vulnerable emotions only brought them closer. They felt sympathy for each other. They were more real to each other. They weren't competition anymore; they were friends, and they were truly working together.

Donghyuck picked at the tape on his fingers until Jaemin came by and told him not to do that, he'd worked hard to put in on. It had been his idea to use the tape to decorate their fingers. It had been Jeno's idea to wear neon colors mixed with white, dark blues, and blacks for their stage. They looked good. They felt good--if not nervous.

"Sorry. Sorry, I'm just--" _nervous_. Jaemin understood. He played with Donghyuck's hair-- a bit, as to not completely mess it up. Renjun had worked hard to style all their hair properly. (He worked in a hair salon after school, which no one knew until a week ago, when they decided they should start thinking about hair and make-up.) Jeno did their make-up. His mom was a make-up artist before she left. (--another vulnerable moment, but Jeno didn't cry, because he'd spent enough nights crying over her. He was done.)

"They're almost done." Donghyuck said. He took in a deep breath, his heart skipping a little beat. They were ushered to stand next to the stage. Minhyung shuffled his way over, with Renjun's hand in his. Jisung and Jeno laughed as they came, doing a part of their choreography in which they moved forward while sliding on their feet. They seemed at ease. Donghyuck was glad.

"Are we ready?" Minhyung asked. Chenle ran over-- "Sorry! I was drinking water!" and he straightened up and said, "I'm ready! Is everyone ready?"

"I'm ready," Donghyuck agreed. Jaemin, too; and Renjun, and Jisung and Jeno. They all formed a circle and put their hands in the middle. They all looked at each other and laughed a little bit. They really felt like a group.

"We can do this." Minhyung said, and then he started the little chant they'd come up with-- "D-R-E-A-M--" and then they all (quietly) said "TEAM!" and they lifted their hands into the air and they really united.

The performance went smoothly. It went better than smoothly. It went _great_. They stood out, the judges said; they worked well together, the judges said; they made a catchy song with catchy choreography and their performance was memorable, the judges said. They looked like they got along. Jisung leaned against Renjun at one point and Jaemin high-fived Renjun on-beat. They looked like they had chemistry; they looked like they'd been friends for a long time. They looked like an idol group. They looked like a _good_ idol group.

Backstage, they celebrated. They hadn't gotten much negativity except their voices should be a bit more stable and some of them needed to work on dancing a little bit. Donghyuk cried a little, and hid his tears in Jeno's shoulder, and said "I can't believe we got complimented by SM Representatives," and Jeno laughed, and rubbed his shoulder, and said "I believe it. We're good. We're really good--especially as a team."

"Seriously. Donghyuck--" Chenle placed a hand on Donghyuck's shoulder, "You're a genius."

Donghyuck almost wished the others weren't next to the stage, watching the next act so more people had heard. Chenle always called him stupid and dumb and all those little insults; and now Donghyuck was a _genius_. Donghyuck smiled, and hugged Chenle, and said, "Thank you for trusting me enough to do this."

"To be honest, I only stayed because Jisung was cute." Chenle said--ruining the moment a little bit, but Donghyuck was amused, "It's a good thing I invited him along, then."

Back on stage, all the acts stood and were addressed again by the judges-- with critiques a little harsher now that everyone had performed. They were eliminated one-by-one-- first, a solo singer, then a solo rapper and dancer. They left the stage after bowing and thanking the judges for listening, and being told that they were talented and would probably make it through an actual SM audition. A band was eliminated next, which didn't completely surprise the audience, because SM weren't known for debuting bands--but the representatives mentioned that, after their performance, they might honestly consider taking a band in.

After that, it was Dream Team versus a dance group full of rappers. Donghyuck hoped they had the upper hand because they had vocalists, too, but he heard little whispers from his friends-- Minhyung said "They were really good," and Jaemin saying "They practiced _really_  hard," and Donghyuck really tried to tune them out but all of a sudden he was so nervous and so scared they wouldn't make it.

"The group we've decided to take in..." one of the women said. She looked between her fellow judges and they all nodded. She looked to the paper in front of her, a little smile on her lips. "We've decided to accept the Dream Team into SM Entertainment. Congratulations."

As soon as _Dream Team_  left her lips, Chenle was jumping excitedly, screaming happily. Then everyone was moving; they were hugging each other and jumping together and celebrating, and the other team was clapping for them. The representatives said something to the other team, but Donghyuck couldn't hear it. He couldn't hear anything, just the celebration of his friends. Minhyung told them all "Wait! Wait! Shh!" with the microphone away from his lips, and they all calmed down and bowed to the representatives, bashful and a little embarrassed but still so happy, with pink cheeks from overheating and excitement.

"You guys did incredibly," one of the men said, "I'm not sure if you were all friends or if you created this group for the talent show, but you made great choices."

"Actually--" Minhyung started, and he reached for the microphone Donghyuck had. He repeated himself, "Actually," and he was a little breathless and he was smiling, and he placed a hand on Donghyuck's shoulder, "Our Donghyuck put this group together, because he knew... he knew we would work well together."

Donghyuck looked at him, smiling; and Minhyung looked back at him, smiling. The man nodded, and said, "Well, Donghyuck, you chose your members wisely. You all worked very well, and I was pleased to see so much chemistry. It's important to get along in a group and it was very obvious that you worked well together."

 _Imagine if we didn't get along_ , Donghyuck thought, shaking his head, _Minhyung was right. We wouldn't have made it_.

"Congratulations, Dream Team!" another representative said. The audience cheered. The representatives clapped for them. They were ushered off stage after their bows and _thank you_ s, and they celebrated loudly backstage, only calming down when the other contestants came by to congratulate them.

The seven of them went outside for a breath of fresh air. They were giddy and pink-cheeked, and they couldn't sit still. Jisung and Jeno played with the choreography while Jaemin and Minhyung chatted together. Chenle and Renjun were also dancing together, singing loudly and happily. Donghyuck looked at all of them, and felt his heart swell. He couldn't believe he'd hated them all-- save Jaemin-- a couple months ago.

"Donghyuck," Minhyung said, calling Donghyuck's attention. They were all looking at him-- must have taken up a group conversation that Donghyuck had missed. Donghyuck asked, "Hmm?" and Minhyung smiled softly, "Thank you."

"Yeah. Thank you."

"--So much."

"Really. A lot."

"Thanks for helping me. I mean--" Donghyuck said, gesturing. He couldn't think of what to say, "You didn't have to agree to this and I'm really greatful that you all did, and that we all decided to get along and-- seriously. This was amazing. We're amazing."

Donghyuck opened his arms for the boys, and they all fit together in a little circle. Things were silent for a minute-- save for giggles, until Donghyuck said, "I think I wouldn't mind if we debuted together."

"We might kill each other." Jeno muttered, his voice muffled by someone's jacket. Jisung said, "I think we'll live," and Minhyung said, "I think Donghyuck is the only one at risk of dying," and Renjun said, "I bet if anyone killed him, it'd be Chenle," and Chenle said "I'm too nice," and Jaemin said, "No, you're not," and they all laughed. But they all knew.

They'd love to debut together.


End file.
